Picking games for adults to take part in at a party can be a bit of a tricky task to handle, as I certainly can attest to when researching this particular top ten list. A lot of the challenge comes from how wide and diverse this category can be...are we looking for games that involve alcohol? Games that may have sexual overtones? Or are you keeping it completely clean and suitable for the most conservative of conservatives? Hoping to appease most everyone out there I figured dabbling a little in each of these was a great idea to deliver a well-diversified palette you can choose from.

The following are the top ten adult party games that Jackpot Party came up with:

1. Famous Match

The nice thing about this one is it’s an ice-breaker game, and while there are a lot of them out there this one can thrive off of individual effort whereas the others may be a bit forced. When guests arrive, give them a card matching their sex that is one half of a famous couple, first names only...Brad for a male, Angelina for a female which would be for Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie. Each guest then goes around asking only yes or no questions to find their “match” among the guests.

2. Charades

A classic, split into two teams and each team comes up with “X” ideas on paper. Toss the ideas in a bucket and take turns as a team member gets up and acts out whatever is on the paper while their team tries to guess. Team with the most correct guesses at the end wins.

3. Apples to Apples

I’ve had the pleasure of playing this game a couple of times, and it’s great because not only is it a lot of fun but you also get to learn something about the people you’re playing with. The basic idea is each of the players get 7 red cards with nouns. Turns are taken for a player to become the Judge whom draws a green card with an adjective on it, and then players need to try to find a red card they think the Judge will accept as the closest association with the adjective...for example, the green card says “painful” and the winning red card said “high school reunion” on it. The trick to success is knowing the Judge’s personality (or sense of humour) well enough to know what red card of yours would be picked by them, collecting enough of the green cards to win.

4. Dirty Minds

Often described as the “cleanest dirty game around,” questions are asked that then receive several clues to help you answer what it may be...but worded in a way to make you keep your mind in the gutter even though the answer is likely very far from said gutter. You can find several examples of the questions & their answers online if you find yourself curious about this one!

5. Rock Band

If you have a video game console at home, especially a XBOX 360 or Playstation 3, you should invest in (or convince someone you know who owns one of these systems) to purchase the music rhythm game “Rock Band.” Rock Band 3 is the most recent release, and what sets Rock Band apart from it’s competitors is the more forgiving input windows as well as the amazing backwards compatibility with the massive (2000+) song list that’s been released thus far. Chances are very good you can find music you’d enjoy either singing, playing guitar or bass, drumming playing a keyboard along with.

6. Murder Mystery

Murder mysteries can be a lot of work for the host of the party unless they buy an already-assembled kit online, but they offer a truly unique experience for players to get intimately involved in the activity and become a character as the game unfolds. You can go as far as dressing up for your characters and acting the parts, or just seeking the mind game that it poses.

7. Battleship

A drinking game, the concept is relatively simple (like a good idea for most drinking games). Take a glass, fill it halfway with an alcoholic beverage of your choosing and then place an empty bottle cap upside down inside the cup. Each party member takes a turn pouring a little bit of the alcohol into the cap from the bottle and the party member to “sink” the boat has to drink the entire cup!

8. Roll the Ball

A fun one that involves some physical interaction (and lots of laughing at often silly looking people), a couple is paired together that starts with a ball squeezed between their stomachs. Without using their arms they must roll the ball up to the chin of the shortest team member.

9. Cherry Hunt

Simple, messy fun game sure to take the edge off of the evening! Place a cherry in a bowl and fill it with whip cream, then the players raced to see whom can find the cherry first. Bonus points if they can tie the stem in a knot while it’s in their mouth!

10. Twister

A classic, when Twister was first released it was highly criticized (we’re talking mid 1960’s here) for the physical interaction being inappropriate. Today, it’s a fun game and can certainly get a lot of laughs as the players become intertwined trying to win (and usually falling down). There are also several variations of the game’s rules you can find online to custom-tailor the game to any kind of party you may be attending or throwing.